The Way It's Suppose To Be
by timeluck
Summary: After nearly five years, Brittany and Santana are finally reunited and living their lives in Los Angeles. (sequel to Luck and Fate)
1. Rainy Days

This is the second part to my previous story, _Luck and Fate. _

Even though I listed Drama and Romance as this story's genres, you should all know it will also include some comedy. :)

Enjoy!

* * *

Ah, Saturday. The best day of the week, if you ask me. I get to sleep in and don't have to go to bed early. Well, it's not like Brittany has been letting me do a lot of sleeping, if you know what I mean. Since we came back from Lima, two weeks ago, Brittany's been extremely... physical. I'm not complaining, of course; we do have a lot of catching up to do.

I feel her stir behind me, followed by her hand snaking over my waist. "Are you awake?" She murmurs.

I twist my upper body until I can look at her. "I am now," I reply before moving closer to kiss her, but she tilts her head back. I frown and try again, earning the same response. "What's wrong?"

"Morning breath," she says, her lips staying close to each other as she speaks.

"Me or you?"

"Both."

I let out a laugh; one of those laughs that come out through your nose as a shaky exhale. "Well, we'd have more time to brush our teeth before bed if you weren't in such a hurry to take our clothes off."

Her lips form into a coy grin. "I wouldn't be in such a hurry if you weren't so hot." She lays a hand over my lips and kisses her knuckles. "And if I didn't love you so much."

"Did you know that no matter how many times you tell me things like that, I always feel myself blushing?" I turn my body completely towards her and curl in beneath her chin. "You're the only one that can make me blush with a compliment."

Her chest shakes against my head when she chuckles and she brings me closer to herself as she wraps both her arms tightly around me.

"Can we stay like this all day?" I ask.

"Mhm. Except for bathroom and snack breaks."

There's a loud thump on the ceiling.

"Are you serious?" I say, angrily.

Another thump. And another. And another.

I growl. "That's it!" I throw the covers off myself and slip a sweater on.

"Where are you going?" Brittany asks.

"Where do you think?" I reply, frustrated. I pull out a pair of panties from my drawer and put them on, followed by some sweats.

"San, don't go. You're going to be really mean and just make it worse."

"Britt, they do that every morning! I need to at least know what the hell they're doing up there. I should have listened to Adam when he said living in anything but the top floor of an apartment complex is a bad idea."

"How about I go talk to them?" She offers.

I pause midway across the room. "You'll be too nice."

"I won't. I'll make sure to let them know they're being too noisy and we'd appreciate if they can do less stomping."

I scoff and start walking towards the door. "See? Too nice. They'll just brush you off."

"Wait! Santana!"

I ignore her and pit stop at the bathroom to brush my teeth before continuing towards the front door; on my way there, I notice Lord Tubbington chilling on the couch. "Hey, Tubbs. I'm about to go bust some heads. Wish me luck?" I scratch his head and watch him enjoy it until he's had enough and jumps off the couch. "Asshole."

He leaves to our bedroom and I turn back to the couch to dust off the hair he usually leaves behind when I notice something instead. My eyes go wide. "Son of uh- BRITTANY! Come! Here! Look at what your stupid cat did!... Brittany!"

Brittany runs out the bedroom, Lord Tubbington in her arms.

"LOOK!" I point towards the torn cushion.

Brittany's mouth drops. "He did that?"

"Of course he did that! Who else would?" I grab Lord Tubbington's face and direct it towards the couch. "Look at what you did! You stupid cat!"

"Santana, stop it." She cradles him away from me.

"He completely ruined it! We're going to have to buy a new one."

Brittany sets the cat down "You're overreacting." She pulls the cushion off the couch, turns it over, and sets it back down. "See? Problem solved."

I cross my arms, not impressed. "Well, what happens when he scratches that side too?"

"He won't. He just needs a scratching post. And we'll get him some catnip so that he will sleep on his bed only."

"Catnip? Isn't that like weed for cats?"

She smiles. "Kind of."

"Bringing him was a bad idea. He's not even sick anymore. All he's going to do here is stink up the apartment and ruin our furniture."

She slips her arms around my waist and grins. "Our furniture?"

"Yes."

"But you bought it."

"What's mine is yours, Brittany. You know that."

She smiles wider and leans in to kiss me but stops halfway there. "Oh, morning breath."

I roll my eyes.

"Lord Tubbington is sorry he ruined half of our cushion. Right, Tubby?"

The cat blinks his lazy eyes and yawns.

"Yeah, I can totally tell he's sorry. I bet he's thinking about what he'll ruin next..." My eyes narrow on him. "You know what? I'm taking back that cushion I bought him. I can use it to make my chair at work more comfortable."

"No you're not," Brittany proclaims.

"Uh, yeah I am. He doesn't deserve it."

"You're going to leave it where it is." She slips her hands under my sweater and drags her fingers up my ribcage. "Well, you can take it if you let me go talk to the neighbors."

I shake my head. "No."

"Please, San! I promise I'll be firm and totally strict with them. I won't even smile... that much."

I glare at her. "Fine. But you only get one chance if they keep beating the damn ceiling, there will be no stopping me."

"Kay!" She gives my waist a squeeze. " I'll be back."

She runs out the door and I walk to the kitchen to start the coffee pot. A few minutes later there's a hurried knock at the door.

"Did she lock herself out?" I open the door and get pushed aside when Jax walks in with a bundle in his arms anda very happy-looking Adam behind him.

"Excuse you!" I bark.

"Sorry, it's cold and raining outside."

"Um... What are you holding? Is that what I think it is?" I ask.

"Not it, _her_," Jax corrects, proudly.

"We did it Santana. We adopted." Adam picks me up off the floor in a bone crushing hug. "Can you believe it? We're parents!" He sets me down. "You're an aunt!"

"What- I thought you said the adoption didn't go through."

"We were able to talk to her birth mother," Adam informs.

"So you changed her mind?"

"We did!" Jax exclaims.

"How?" I ask Adam. "Didn't you say she was a homophobe?

He shrugs. "I don't think she was a homophobe. She was just not too sure about it. She isn't used to gay people. But meeting us helped her see that we're just like any other couple. All we want to do is take care of her baby... _Our_daughter." He goes over to Jax and lifts the blanket off the baby's face. "Come meet her," he offers.

I move towards them and Jax lowers his arms so that I can get a better look at her.

The last time I saw a newborn was seven years ago when my aunt had her first kid, but I remember my cousin being a lot bigger than her. "She's so tiny... How old is she?"

"Almost five weeks," Jax whispers. "She came out her mama a bit early that's why she's so small." He strokes the sleeping baby's face.

"We named her Santana."

"What?" My head whips up to look at Adam. "You named her after me?"

He snorts. "No, I'm kidding."

I frown. "You ass."

"Don't curse in front of her!" Jax scolds.

"We named her Valerie, after Jax's grandmother."

"Oh, that's a good name."

I hear the front door open and Brittany's voice ring from the entrance. "So he was really nice. I told- Oh." She pauses when she sees our guests. "Hi, guys! Who's this?" She steps closer to Jax and takes a peek at Valerie.

"She's our daughter, Valerie." Jax chirps.

"Your daugher!? Oh my gosh! I can't believe you guys actually did it!" She tackles Adam with an unexpected hug and Jax hushes her dramatically.

But Brittany is excited and there isn't much anyone can do to calm her down now. She continues with her loud and happy yelps as she hangs from Adam's neck like a child who has been given a puppy.

Meanwhile, I watch Valerie's face muscles pinch together until her tiny eyes open. She looks up at Jax, scans the room, then frowns right before letting out the most awful sound I've ever heard.

* * *

"Oh my god!" My hands shoot up to cover my ears. "Make it stop!" I complain as I lay on the couch.

"Her! Make _her_stop!" Jax says over Valerie's wailing. "And it's not my fault Brittany doesn't know how to control her excited voice. She's the one that woke her up."

"Sorry." Brittany frowns.

"But it is _your_fault that you can't get her to be quiet! It's been more than half an hour!"

"Both of you just stop yelling," Adam orders. He takes Valerie from Jax and gently swings her in his arms. "Hand me her bottle, Jax. I'll try feeding her again."

"She doesn't want that nasty ass baby formula. That's probably why she's crying," I comment. "You're trying to stuff a fake nipple into her mouth and feed her fake milk!"

"Well, we don't have boobs do we?" Adam says. "Unless you want to magically produce some milk yourself and feed her, I don't see why you're even giving your opinion."

I scowl. I'm never sharing my girls with anyone... Except Brittany; she has free range to do what she likes, when she likes.

"What are you doing?" Jax asks.

Brittany unhooks her finger from Valerie's pants. "Checking if she pooped. I'd cry if I pooped myself and couldn't change."

I laugh. "I'd cry if I had to be held by two guys who always reek of cologne."

"You'd cry if you were to be held by _any_guy," Adam jokes.

"Ha." I fake smile. "You guys have to admit that you literally bathe in cologne."

Jax flops on the recliner. "At least it's the expensive kind."

"Can I try?" Brittany asks in a small voice.

Adam looks over at her. "Sure." He carefully lays the sobbing baby in her arms. Brittany walks over to the sofa and motions for me to make room.

I move over. "Ugh, Brittany. I could hear her crying just fine from where you were standing."

She cradles the baby closer to her and begins rocking gently back and forth.

"You know what? Maybe she just got blinded by Jax's incredibly white teeth," I offer. "I told you you went overboard with the whitening."

"No I didn't," he defends. "The dentist said it was the perfect shade..."

"Perfect for his pocket," I murmure.

"...Plus we live in LA. We need to live by the code. Dress well, eat well-"

"And whiten your teeth until they resemble snow on a sunny day?!"

"No!..."

"Jax!" Adam interrupts. "Look..."

We direct our attention to Brittany and the now sleeping baby in her arms.

She looks up at me. "She fell asleep," she says with a happy glimmer in her eyes. "I made her fall asleep."

I nod happily. "Thank the lord." I lean my head back onto the couch in relaxation. "So it's settled. You guys suck as parents and Brittany is the baby whisperer. That or little Valerie just wanted some tits to cuddle with and she's going to turn out to be a total bad ass lesbian like her Tia Santana."

"That'd be totally cool," Brittany says in a hushed voice.

"Wouldn't it?" I smile.

"Someone's phone is ringing," Adam informs. "I think it's coming from your room."

"Oh! That's mine." Brittany twists to face me and looks at me expectantly.

I raise my eyebrows in question. "What?"

"Take her," she says and nods towards Valerie.

I chuckle. "I don't think so."

"Just while I answer my phone. I'll take her back as soon as I'm done."

"Nah uh." I shake my head. "I'm not gonna risk getting another hour of crying. Take her with you. Lay her down on our bed."

Brittany purses her lips, disappointed. "Fine."

Once she's out of sight, Adam takes her spot on the sofa and drapes his legs over my lap. "Why don't you want to hold my daughter?"

"Don't take it personal. I don't want to hold any baby." I push his legs off me.

"How are you suppose to babysit her if you won't even hold her?"

"That's not a problem because I won't be babysitting her. You're the parents. You're the ones that signed up for this, not me."

"I bet Brittany will want to babysit her," Jax says. "And if she tells you to babysit with her, then I'm sure you will."

I cross my arms. "What does that suppose to mean?"

"Do you really want us to say it outloud?" Adam asks with a smirk.

"No. Shut up."

"Santana, you're whi-"

"What I _want_," I say, interrupting Jax, "Is for you to make us some brunch. Brittany managed to put a sock in that kid's mouth so now you repay us with food. Go." I motion him towards the kitchen with my hand.

"Fine. But only because today is a wonderful day and we need to celebrate."

"Yeah, whatever. Make it good."

* * *

"Jax, what part of make it good did you not understand? This omelette is totally bland." I grab the salt shaker off the center of the table and shake some over my food.

"We want to start eating healthier now that we have Valerie. We're going to cut back on salt, sugar, and greasy food."

"That's great, but why do _I_have to cut back?" I add some hot sauce to my omelette.

Adam watches me. "You're going to live a very short life if you keep eating like that."

"A very short, very happy life." I smile before forking a piece off omelette into my mouth.

A few minutes later Brittany walks in with her usual soft smile and baby free. She moves towards the stove to serve herself some food.

"Hey, you showered," I say once she sits next to me.

"_And_brushed my teeth." She pecks my lips. "That shower felt great. I was feeling kind of... well you know how last night we-"

"YES!" I shriek. "I- I know." I look across the table at the two sitting in front of us. They're both smirking.

Brittany grins. "I left Valerie on our bed. I framed her with pillows so don't worry, she won't roll off."

"Thanks, Brittany." The guys say in unison.

"Um, Angie called me."

"Oh, yeah?" I ask casually. "What she say?"

"She said they will start filming next week."

"Filming what?" Jax asks. "Are you guys doing a porno?"

"What?" I scowl. "No. Brittany got a job on a movie set."

"What?! That's so cool. What movie is it? Who's going to be in it? Are you going to act?"

Brittany chuckles shyly. "No. I'm not going to act. It's just a small film. No big names. My friend is producing it so she got me a job on it. I don't really know what I'm going to be doing yet."

"That's still pretty cool," Adam says.

"It is. It's pretty damn cool." I turn to Brittany. "So are they going to film on weekends or what's the schedule?"

"Why the would they film on weekends?" Jax asks with an arrogant tone. "Making a movie isn't a weekend thing. Do you know how long it would take to get one done if you only worked on it on the weekends? They would-"

I hold a hand up. "Stop right there, Mel Gibson. Not all of us have your one week experience in the film industry."

"It was a week _and_a half."

"Whatever, you still got fired." I look back at Brittany. "He worked for some director for like a week one summer.

"Week _and_a half."

"Oh," Brittany nods politely. "Well, Angie said they will only be filming for three or four weeks since it's a small project."

"What about your job at the studio?" I ask.

"She said it was fine if I went after work. They usually shoot all day."

"Oh. That works out then." I give her a small smile and continue eating my brunch.

After we're done eating, Brittany and I offer to clean up while the guys go check on Valerie.

I wash the dishes silently and hand them one by one to Brittany who drys them. I can feel her eyes on me. She's watching me closely. It seems like whenever I'm more quiet than usual, it's when I'm the loudest to her. But she never asks me what's bothering me unless she's sure there is in fact something that's bothering me. That's what she's trying to figure out right now.

But I don't want to worry her, so I try to play it off.

"Valerie is a pretty cute kid, huh?" I hand her another plate. "Well, when she's not shedding tears."

"Yeah, she's adorable," she answers, all while keeping her eyes on me.

"I think we're running low on food. We can go grocery shopping after work on Monday, if you want. I'll pick you up from the studio."

Brittany pulls her gaze away from me and turns her attention towards the dish in her hands. "I start working with Angie on Monday."

"Oh, right... Okay, well maybe we can go tomorrow?"

She looks back at me and nods. When I hand her the last dish, she takes it with her left hand and grabs my own hand with her right.

"San."

I stiffen. I think I've been caught.

She bites her bottom lip nervously for a moment. "Do you not want me to work on the movie?"

"Of course I do."

"Are you... Does it bother you that I'll be working with Angie?"

My brows knit together. "No, Britt. I haven't even thought about that." I pause. "Should I?"

She quickly shakes her head. "No, she doesn't like girls, remember? And even if she did I only have eyes for you."

A small smile breaks across my face.

"But... What's bothering you?" She strokes my hand with her thumb. "I know you're not telling me something."

"It's nothing. Please don't worry about it. I want you to work on whatever makes you happy."

"But I won't be happy if you're not happy."

I sigh. "It's really nothing."

"Please tell me. I won't be able to stop thinking about it if you don't tell me."

"I'm just being selfish." I take a deep breath. "Evenings are the only time when I get to see you and I won't have that anymore."

"But it will only be a few weeks."

"I know. That's why I didn't want to tell you. I'm just being dumb. Don't worry about it, okay?"

"You can't ask me not to worry about you. I'll always worry about you." She brings my hand up to her lips and kisses it. "I'll come straight home everyday after shooting. And we still have weekends, right?"

"Yeah, we do." I step closer to her. "I love you." My hand pulls on hers until she's close enough to where I can lean in and kiss her. Her lips move slowly against mine and I enjoy it as much as I can because I know I won't have much of this in the next couple of weeks.

* * *

The night is cold and dark when I get home. I step into our empty apartment for what feels like the millionth time and sigh. I've become so accustomed to being with Brittany that if some day, for whatever reason, she were to not live with me again, I'd probably fall into some kind of depression.

"Tubbs!" I call from the entryway. "Tubbingtonnn."

The lazy little beast, who has pretty much become my best friend since Brittany started working more, pads out from restroom.

"There you are," I say.

He sits a few feet away from me.

"Since your mom hasn't had the time to go shopping, I had to do it." I pull out a long box from a Pet Smart bag and unbox a scratching post. "Now you don't have to take out your anger on my furniture." I look around the room for a place where to put the post. "Here." His eyes follow me across the room until I settle his new toy by the kitchen. "Come try it," I offer, but he continues to sit motionless. "Or just sit there. Whichever."

I pull off my boots and grab one of Brittany's juice boxes from the fridge before settling on the sofa like every other night. Except today I don't lay by myself. Lord Tubbington joins me without an invitation and curls himself near my stomach. "Is this an apology because you didn't like what I bought you?" I run my nails down his back and he begins to pur. "Or do you just miss Brittany as much as I do?"

I pull the quilt off the back of the sofa and lay it over me. "How about some reality TV?" I ask, and turn the television on.

...

The next time Lord Tubbington purs is when Brittany strokes him as she sits on the edge of the couch. I feel the back of her fingers caress my cheek and my eyes flutter open to find her looking down at me with a warm smile and a light coat of rain mist on her jacket.

My hand reaches out towards her and I wipe off the mist. "It's raining?"

"A little... You fell asleep on the couch again," she observes.

"Yeah, I keep doing that, don't I?"

She nods.

"I guess I don't want to sleep on our bed without you."

She smiles; a sad kind of smile. "You're cuddling with Tubby."

I look down at the cat and realize that my arm is curled around him. I let go of him and push him off the sofa.

"Santana!" Brittany scolds.

"He sneaked on here. I didn't even know. And he didn't like my gift so he can go cuddle somewhere else."

"What gift?" She asks curiously.

"I got him that scratching post you mentioned." I point at it. "He hasn't gone near it though."

"You really do like him, don't you?" She asks, smiling.

"What? No. What I like is my furniture unscratched."

"Liar, liar, pants on fire." She lays a kiss on my forehead and lays down, making me the big spoon.

"How was work?" I ask softly.

"Good. I had to hold the boom mic today, so my arms feel like jelly, but I got to learn a lot about the cameras and sound and stuff."

"That's good, Britt. I'm glad you're enjoying it." I kiss the back of her head.

We lay there quietly and I turn off the TV to listen to the rain outside. I don't want to break the tranquility, but I'm curious about something. "Hey, you never told me what you said to the neighbors. They've been really quiet."

"Oh, yeah. His name is Nick and he lives by himself. He's a personal trainer, so every morning he works out before going to work. That's why he makes so much noise."

"Why the hell would you work out before going to work if you work at a gym?"

Brittany shrugs. "I don't know. He was really nice though. He asked if I wanted to join him for breakfast."

"What? He asked you to eat breakfast with him? You don't even know him!"

"I know. That's why I declined. Maybe we should invite him over some time though. We can use some more friends... And he has a dog! He's so cute, San. His name is Rod."

"That is the stupidest name I've ever heard."

"I don't know. I think it's pretty cool."

"Lord Tubbington is a million times better than _Rod_." Not a minute after I say that, Lord Tubbington jumps back onto the sofa and calmly lays on my hip.

Brittany laughs. "You guys are best friends now."

"_You're _my best friend."


	2. White Lie

She watches me from her car seat with big, dark, doughy eyes. Her long, curled, eyelashes hardly blinking. Adam is sitting right next to me, but she hasn't moved her eyes away from me, not once. I move to the left and her eyes follow. I dart to the right and she keeps up. Why am I so amusing? Is it my hair? I combed it when I got out the shower. Maybe she's just mesmerized by how beautiful I am. That has to be it.

"Let's get her down from the coffee table," I suggest. "This leveled eye contact is freaking me out. She's like, obsessed with me."

"Maybe she's waiting for you to hold her. Do you want to feed her? It's been a month and the only time you've held her is when you picked her up off your bed because you wanted to nap. It's getting kinda hard not to get offended," Adam says.

We both look back at Valerie.

"Maybe _she's_ offended," he says. "You hold Brittany's cat more than you do her.

"Adam, kids and I don't mix. Babies don't like me. The last time I held one, he threw up on me. I don't have very fond memories of babies in my arms."

"What's going to happen if Brittany and you end up having kids? Are you not going to hold them either?"

"Of course I'm going to hold them. That's going to be a whole different story." I lightly push Valerie's car seat with my sock covered foot, making her rock back and forth. She smiles. "Look, to show you guys that I love you both, I'll make her some dinner, okay? Just tell me what to do."

"All right," he agrees, happily. He pulls out a stubby bottle from the diaper bag and a small tub of baby formula. "Five ounces of warm water in this." He holds up the bottle. "And then five scoops of this." He sets the formula heavily on my lap and hands me the bottle.

"Easy," I say, and head for the kitchen.

"Are you happy Brittany is done with her movie gig?"

"God, yes! I can finally come home and not feel like I'm single loser with a cat." I place a mug full of water in the microwave and hit the 1 minute button.

"What are you doing?" Adam asks.

"Warming up the water?"

"Don't do it in the microwave. Jax would kill you if he saw you do that. He's paranoid about radiation waves and all that. Use the tea kettle."

I roll my eyes but poor some water into the kettle.

"What would you do if Brittany wanted a career change and had to be working all the time?"

"I don't know. I guess I would keep my personal feelings out of it and support her. I'm not going to tell her what she can and can't do."

"But you just about went fell into a depression because she worked late for four weeks. And you're the most impulsive person I've ever met. I doubt you'd be able to keep to yourself."

"Why are we even talking about this? As far as I know the movie gig was a one time thing and she still loves dancing, so I rather not talk about it." I pour the water into the bottle and open the formula pack.

"We're baaaack," Jax drawls. He walks into the living room, Brittany following close behind. "Did you miss me, Val?" He asks, hovering over her. "I know you did! But soon you'll be old enough to go running with Daddy and Auntie Brittany!"

God, do I hate when he uses that stupid voice.

"Do you want to feed her?" Adam asks him. "Santana is preparing a bottle."

He shakes his head. "I'm all sweaty. But what was that second part? Santana is doing what?"

"Yes, believe it my sassy gay friend," I say as I finish scooping the formula powder into the bottle.

Brittany comes up behind me and rests her chin on my shoulder. "You look so hot making that bottle."

"I always look hot, Britt."

She nuzzles my neck, and I squirm in place because I've always being extremely ticklish.

"Britt!" I shriek when she bites me.

"Sorry. I must still be hyped up on endorphins from my run."

I turn around and find her smiling from ear to ear. I pull on her hoodie and kiss her gently, prolonging the kiss by pulling on her bottom lip with my teeth. She opens her eyes to watch our mouths connect again and I push the bottle onto her chest and away from me.

She takes a step back, taking the bottle. "Guess what?" She asks excitedly.

"You're going to kick these idiots and their child out so that we can do it right here in the kitchen?"

She giggles. "Yes, but there's something else."

"What is it?"

"Jax and I are throwing me a birthday party!" Her eyes go wide and her eyebrows shoot up. She's so excited.

"Britt, you shouldn't be throwing yourself a party. That's kinda sad."

"No it isn't. It will be awesome cause I'll get to choose how I want everything that day."

"Not with Jax helping you. He will take over your life." I look over her shoulder and make sure he isn't listening. "How about you tell us how you want to do it and what you want and I'll help Jax organize it. I know how to keep his party planner alter ego under control."

She thinks about it for a moment.

"You'll still have total control," I reassure her. "But I'll do everything for you. It's your birthday; you shouldn't have to move not one finger."

"Okay," she agrees with grateful smile. "We should start with the guest list."

"Sure. Whatever you want. But first go feed the kid. I worked hard on her dinner."

She looks down at the bottle in her hands, then holds it out for me. "Do you want to try it?"

"No, thanks. But I will feed our furry little son." I take the cat food out from beneath the kitchen sink and fill Lord Tubbigton's eating dish.

* * *

A few days later, as I'm getting off work for my lunch break, I get a text message from Brittany. _Meet me on the roof :D_

What the hell is she talking about? _What? Where are you?_ I text back.

_In ur building! Well ON ur building. Hurry! Im starving!_

I take the stairs up to the roof and find it deserted. Is she really here? I re-read her messages and look around again. "Bri-"

"Surprise!"

I fumble with my phone and nearly drop it. "Jesus Christ, Brittany! I almost dropped my phone!"

"Sorry." But she's not really that sorry. She's laughing.

"How did you even get past the security guard?"

"Oh, I gave him a turkey sandwich in exchange for him letting me go through."

"Well, at least I know he's doing his job and keeping us all safe," I say sarcastically.

"Come on." She takes my hand. "I brought us lunch." She leads us to the other side of the rooftop where there's a quilt laid out on the floor. "Sit," she offers. She sits across from me and takes out containers from a bag. "I brought the lady her favorite salad and granola bar for later." She sets the food down in front of me. "And a burrito for muah."

"You know me so well." I smile.

After we're done eating, Brittany brings out a small notepad from her purse. "So I've made a list of the people I want to invite to my party."

I scan the list looking for any familiar names. "Rachel?!"

"We told her we would invite her over sometime," she says. "I think this is a good opportunity."

"Ugh, Britt," I whine and continue down the list. "I'm down to invite Quinn," I say when I see her name. "I don't know most of these people. Are they from your studio?"

She nods. "Yeah most of them. And there's also some people I met when I was helping with the movie"

"Well, just write their phone numbers next to their names and I'll call them. But you can call Rachel, I don't want to deal with that one."

"Okay." She tucks the notepad back into her purse and glances at her watch. "I gotta get back to the studio." I nod and help her clean up. "Oh! I was thinking that I want my party to be Old Hollywood themed. And I want a bouncer at the door with a guest list."

"Like a club bouncer?" I chuckle.

"Yeah. A nice one though."

"So what does a nice bouncer do when someone's name is not on the list?" I ask.

"He lets them in. Everyone is welcome."

"Then what's the point of having a bouncer?"

"I don't know. But he will look super cool to people when they see him."

I shake my head, laughing. "Of course. That makes sense." I hold out my hand for her to take and we walk down the stairs to the lobby.

"I'm cooking you dinner tonight, so don't be late, okay?" She warns.

We stop outside the front doors of the building and I turn to face her while swinging our hands between us. "Is there going to be dessert?"

She smirks. "Maybe. I haven't decided yet. Too much sugar is bad for you."

"There is no such thing as too much sugar if it comes from you. I wouldn't mind turning diabetic from having too much of your sugar." I close my eyes and give her a soft kiss on the lips.

"Take it somewhere else, _dykes_," a passing male voice blurts. I don't know his name, but I recognize him. He's been making quiet remarks ever since I was dating Natalie.

"Fuck you!" I don't even think about it. It's a natural response. And to that I want to add so much more.

But Brittany holds my hands tighter. "Let it go."

"People will never leave us alone will they?" My jaw clenches. "Why the fuck do they care what we do? God! It pisses me off so much!"

Brittany doesn't say anything. She pulls me against her and seals her arms tightly around me. "It's okay..." _But it's not_, I think. She kisses my cheek. "I'll see you at home, okay?"

"Yeah..." I nod.

"I love you," she says with firmness

"I love you too," I reply with a forced smile.

...

After I leave work, I step on the gas more than needed only to come to a complete stop when I reach the freeway. I slam my hands on the steering wheel with frustration when I see that all trafffic lanes are backed up. I don't know why I'm acting surprised; it's like this everyday, but I'm beginning to feel so stressed that I'm on the verge of crying. I need to talk to someone or I will purposely ram my car into the one in front of me.

Calling Brittany seems like a terrible idea at the moment. She's the last person I should talk to right now. I would only worry her and ruin our dinner. But I need to calm down before I get home.

I push a few buttons on the dashboard, finally deciding on someone.

"Hey, Santana," her voice rings through the car speakers. "Why do I get a feeling you're calling me to ask me for a favor."

"It's not exactly a favor. I just need to talk to someone."

"I'm listening."

"Before I get into my drama, I need to tell you that I'm planning Brittany's birthday party for next weekend and you're invited. It's Old Hollywood themed so wear something nice."

"I haven't agreed to go yet."

"I know you will, Quinn. And heads up, the world's smallest hobbit is also invited."

She groans. "Brittany's work?"

"Duh. Like I'd ever purposely invite Rachel. Anyway, I'm calling you because something happened and I can't talk to Brittany about it. Not yet."

"Okay, so what happened?"

I breathe in deeply. "I got fired."

"Like from your job?"

"Yes from my job! What else would I get fired from?"

"But why? What happened?"

"Remember when you told me that I needed to think before I spoke? Well, I completely ignored that today. Some-" I try to find a good enough insult. "Fucking... douchebag asshole from work insulted me and Brittany today when she visited me at work, and I kind of went off on him in front of everyone after Brittany left. I guess I was pretty disposable because my boss didn't think twice about firing me."

"Jesus, Santana. You really need to tell Brittany."

"Thanks for stating the obvious," I say, irritated. "I know I need to tell her. And I will. But I don't want to ruin her birthday."'

"So what do you suppose you're going to do for the following week? How are you going to explain not going to work?"

"I have till the end of the month to find another job. I'm obviously not going to find anything in such a short time but at least I won't have to tell Brittany yet."

"Don't you think it's going to be worse if you don't tell her now? I assume she's not going to be happy about you keeping this from her."

"Probably not, but I just want her to have a good birthday. If I tell her now, she's going to worry about it all week."

She sighs. "Your temper is one of your worst enemies, do you know that? How are you going to get hired by anyone now that you got fired for doing this?"

"I don't know. I'll have to look for any type of job till I can find something in music again. I can't let Brittany pay all the bills... But, hey. You'll keep this to yourself right?"

"Yeah. Of course. And if you need help paying for Brittany's party I-"

"Okay, I'm gonna stop you right there and pretend you didn't say that. You know I would never ask you or anyone for money."

"Right. I forgot about your enormous ego. But you're not asking, I'm offering. If you change your mind-"

"I won't. I got enough to do this for her. But thank you for offering. I'm uh... I'm really glad we got talking again. I got Brittany and some other people here but... I can use another friend."

"I never stopped being your friend, Santana."

…

I rest my forehead against our front door and close my eyes. I need to take a moment to recollect myself and be ready to do my best acting in there. Brittany reads me so easily that I'll need to bring my A game and resemble Meryl Streep's acting skills.

I unlock the door and step in. "Britt, I'm home!" Lord Tubbington immediately comes to greet me and rubs himself against my legs. "Hey, you," I greet him.

"In the kitchen!"

I follow the smell of baked salmon until I reach Brittany who is standing at the stove. She looks so adorable in her duck apron and stove mittens. "Did you make what I think you made?" I ask.

"Maybeee." She pulls out a tray with pink, smokey, salmon from the oven and sets it down on the counter. "I wanted to finish what I started, since I didn't get a chance to cook it for you last time."

"But Britt, what are you going to eat? You hate salmon."

"I made a lasagna." She points at the casserole on the dining table.

"Wow. You're on a role. You're like my own personal Martha Stewart. Except you're super hot." I run my hands up and down the sides of her thighs.

"Have you called Quinn yet?"

"Yup. She'll be here. What about the Gremlin?"

"I don't know. She said it was short notice and she would get back to me. She said something about her schedule and making room."

I roll my eyes. "You know she'll be the first one to show up."

Lord Tubbington jumps on the counter and starts sniffing my dinner. I swat him away. "I'm sure you already ate you dirty little flea bag."

"San, I was thinking..." Brittany starts as she sprinkles some pepper onto the fish.

"Mmh?" I breathe on her neck and move my hands over her perfectly round behind.

"Lord Tubbington is kind of lonely here. We're only home for a few hours and the rest of the day he's all by himself."

"Britt, I'm going to say no to whatever you're thinking. I warned you about that. We knew we would have to leave for work and he'd be here on his own."

"But San, don't you worry about him? Cats can die of loneliness. I Googled it. Plus, one more cat wouldn't be much work. Tubby hardly gives us any trouble."

"No, Brittany. No more cats," I state firmly but try to keep my voice calm. I can't see her face but I'm sure she's pulling one of her pouty frowns.

"Well..." She moves away from me and begins pulling out silverware. "How about a puppy? I've never had a dog, and I have Nick's number. I can ask him where he got Rod.

"No more animals, Brittany!" It comes out more irritated than intended and so does the following. "And why do you have his number?"

She sets the silverware down and turns to me with pinched eyebrows, surprised at my tone.

"Why do you have his number?" I ask again and cross my arms.

"I don't know. Jax and I ran into him when we went running and he just gave it to me. I didn't give him mine if that's what you're thinking." She sounds somewhat accusing but still makes me feel guilty. "Why are you getting so angry? What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I shake my head. "Nothing's wrong." I move towards her again and wrap her in a hug. "Sorry," I apologize as I move my hand down her stomach and underneath her leggings.

"Santana." She pushes me away at the shoulders. "What are you doing?"

"I- I'm... What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Why would I want to do that when you're being so mean? I don't think you're sexy when you're yelling at me. And we haven't even had dinner yet. I spent a lot of time on it."

I open my mouth to speak but close it again. I thought sex would distract her from my bad mood and would prevent me from ruining our dinner but it's doing the complete opposite. "I'm sorry, Britt."

"If getting another pet upsets you this much then we won't get one. And I won't talk to Nick if you're going to question me everytime he gets mentioned."

"No... No, Britt. You can talk to whomever you want. I'm just... you know how I get. I'm protective of you and-"

"You mean possessive."

My lips press into a thin line. It's true. I know it. "I'm sorry, okay?"

She studies my face for a moment and I try to look as relaxed as possible. "Did something happen at work? "

"No," I quickly reply. "No. I mean, it was just- It was stressful today. There was a lot of work to get done. I think that's why I'm so hostile right now."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, B."

"So you were okay after I left? You didn't go after that guy, did you?"

I shake my head and avoid eye contact by setting the table. "No. 'Course not. I let it go like you told me, remember?" This doesn't feel right. Lying to her so blatantly.

She comes up behind me and kisses my shoulder. "I'm glad you did. I'll give you a nice and long massage after dinner to get all the grumpiness out, kay?"

"Yeah." I smile. "That'd be nice."


	3. Birthday Cake

**Guys just a heads up. This chapter has both Brittany and Santana POVs. Santana's pov is in italics. Enjoy and review!**

* * *

"BRITTANY!"

The sound of Santana's voice takes me by surprise and makes me jolt back from the stove. I unintentionally catapult some scrambled eggs over my shoulder, but Lord Tubbington runs over and eats them off the floor. "San! You scared me."

"What do you think you're doing?" Santana grabs me by the hip and pulls me away from the stove. "I told you I was going to cook breakfast today." She takes the wooden spoon from me and finishes scrambling the eggs.

"I thought I could finish before you woke up."

"It's your birthday, Britt. You should be sleeping in."

"I just wanted to do something nice for you, since you worked so hard on planning my entire party," I explain. "I was going to make you those orange juice and champagne drinks you like."

Wait, I can still make them.

I pull out the OJ and champagne from the fridge and some of Santana's fancy champagne flutes from the cupboard.

"Britt, stop." She pulls me away again and begins pouring the drinks herself. "I'll do it, Sweety. You just tell me what you were going to make and I'll do it."

A tiny laugh escapes me, and Santana turns to look at me. "What? Why are you laughing? Did you stick food on my butt again?" She runs a hand over her cute little behind. "I still haven't forgiven you for that. Lord Tubbington literally clawed his name all over my ass."

"I didn't stick food to your butt." I laugh.

"Then what's with the big smile?"

"You called me Sweety."

"So?" She takes a sip from one of the drinks and makes a funny face. "Uagh! Too much champagne."

"It's just funny." I hold my hands behind my back and lean against the wall. "You almost never call me names like that. It's funny when you do because you always try to act like your super hardcore so hearing you saying cute names is funny."

She puts her drink down and turns to look at me. "I am hardcore. Are you making fun of me?"

I shake my head with a smile. "It's just really sweet, _Sweety_." I laugh. "I like it."

She narrows her eyes on me. "Yeah, well don't get used to it." She opens the fridge and pulls out a bottle of whip cream. "I feel like having something sweet now..."

She gives me what she would call a "wanky smile" and moves towards me looking like a hungry lion. She doesn't look hungry for food though.

I pull my hands from behind my back and grip her waist. "Me too." My eyes lock on her lips and she smiles but doesn't kiss me like I thought she would. She brings up the can of whip cream and dots the center of my lips with cream. I'm about to lick it off, but she smashes her lips against my own and when she pulls back she licks the corners of her mouth and wipes mine with her thumb.

"Was it sweet?" I ask and sneak my hands under her big hoodie. I love how warm her skin is when she gets out of bed.

"Extremely." She pouts her lips for a kiss so I lean in and give her a peck. I think that's all she wanted; a little kiss. But it's my birthday and last night, when I was listening to her ipod, I secretly played one of Rihanna's old songs over and over. I think it was called _Sexy Cake-_ No, wait. _Brithday Cake_. For some time Santana played it a lot when we had sex during our Senior year. And for the longest time, I really didn't understand the song until Santana got tired of it and explained what it really meant.

Anyways, my point is that now that we're having whip cream kisses and it's my birthday, that song is starting to play in my head. Rihanna said it wasn't her birthday but he wanted her icing either way. Well, today _is _my birthday, so I'm hoping that maybe Santana wants cake.

She tries to turn back to her drink, but I grip her waist tighter beneath her hoodie.

"Do you want cake?" I ask her. I can feel myself grinning.

She looks at me and smiles with a scrunched up forehead. "What?"

I chuckle a little, pull her against me, and press my lips against her neck. I kiss the spot underneath my lips and push my tongue out just a tiny bit. I'm not sure if she felt it.

"Ohhh, _that _cake." She pulls back to get a look at me. "Yeah." She kisses me. "I do."

I lay my back flat against the wall and pull her tighter against me. I wish we weren't wearing any clothes even though it's kinda cold.

She runs her tongue over her lips once and leans in for a soft, open mouth kiss. I like when she kisses me like that; it makes the pit of my stomach tighten. And when I feel her lips slowly glide with mine, it makes me want to kiss her more. I think it has the same effect on her.

She turns her head from the right to the left and kisses me again. This time she parts her lips more and I do the same. Our kisses are making low smacking sounds and that's something that not only makes my stomach tighten but it also makes other stuff tighten.

Santana and I both dart our tongues out into each other's mouths at the same time and it makes us giggle but not stop kissing. She grips my waist and tries to press her thigh onto my lady parts but she's not tall enough and ends up pressing her hip against me. It still gets me whimper though. Now I really wish our clothes were off.

"Come're." She leads me towards the counter until my belly reaches it. I try turning around but her grip on my hip is firm. "Wait," she says and tugs on my sweater until it's off and laying on one of the kitchen stools.

I hug myself but not because I'm embarrassed, it's just really cold now and I'm even getting goosebumps.

"Do you want to put it back on?" Santana whispers from behind me.

I quickly shake my head. I'm cold, but I want Santana to touch me more than I want to be warm again. "You can keep me warm."

"Mhm," she agrees in a raspy voice and encircles me in her arms.

I want to turn around and kiss her, but she's holding me tight and has already started kissing my back. She's kissing the different freckles on my it because I can feel her lips move randomly across my skin.

She loosens her hug and runs her hands up and down my arms for a minute before moving them down my collarbone and to my breasts. Sometimes I feel bad for Santana because she really likes boobs and mine are small, but she still seems to like them and I know I really like when she touches them. Like now, she squeezes them gently and I can't help but arc my back and push my butt against her front. She squeezes me tighter when she feels me against her and groans a little.

I smile at the sound her throat made and grind harder.

"Stop it." She lays a hand on my lower back and nudges me forward. "Sit on the counter."

I finally get to turn around and begin pulling down my yoga pants. "Are you okay?" I ask.

"Yeah." She clears her throat. "Come on." She pats the counter top and smiles. "Hope on."

I jump on like she instructed and watch her walk forward and stand between my legs. "Are you mad at me?" I ask.

"Course not, Britt." She stands on the tips of her toes to reach my height and starts a slow kiss again. Her hands rest high on my thighs and it makes my underwear stick even more to me.

I reach down to slip my hand underneath the front of Santana's sweat pants but as soon as I touch her down there she clasps a hand around my wrist and pulls my hand away. "I've been trying really, really hard not to rip my clothes off and jump on you."

I frown. "Why?"

"Because it's your birthday and I want this to be about you."

"It can be about me with you."

She shakes her head a little. "Just relax and enjoy it, okay? I'm fine. You can make it up to me later."

I press my lips together. "Okay."

Santana smiles. "Kay. Lean back."

I do as she says and hold myself up with my hands on the cold tile. She grabs the bottle of whip cream again and gives me a sneaky grin before pressing down on the nozzle and making a cream ring around my left nipple.

I giggle. "That tickles."

She laughs with me and does the same thing to my right nipple. When she perfects the circles, she sets the bottle down and leans down towards my chest. I feel my smile disappear as I watch her mouth close around me. Her tongue swirls around my nipple as she licks the cream off and I swallow because I'm getting really impatient down there.

Her eyes look up at me when she let's go of my nipple and I get goosebumps all over again. She licks the cream off my other boob the same way then picks up the whip cream and lays a trail from my chest down to where my panties start.

I lean forward to kiss her and she pushes me back with a hard kiss. Her right hand suddenly slides into my underwear and my head falls back because I really needed her touch there. A groan explodes in my throat when her fingers slide up and down on me and Santana kisses my neck against the vibrations of my whimpers. She keeps kissing down until she gets to the whip cream. I raise my head to see why the kisses stopped and find her looking at me. "Ready?" She asks.

I can't nod my head fast enough.

After she pulls my panties off, she tells me to scoot towards the edge of the counter, presses a quick kiss to my lips, and makes way for two of her fingers. I gasp and feel my eyebrows tense.

"Do it faster. I- I'm," I stutter.

Santana nods and moves her fingers in and out quicker than she usually would. My hands grip her shoulders when she starts eating the cream off of me. I'm leaning forward and making us look like we're at a weird angle, but I need to be touching her someway.

I can feel her teeth against my skin. She's almost biting me as she moves down and closer to the wet, sticky place between my legs. "San." I grunt.

She finishes licking the last of the whip cream, but her mouth keeps traveling south. I lick my lips and grip the edge of the countertop. Her fingers are still moving in and out and right before her tongue runs over the swollen area her eyes dart up to mine.

It's only three licks. I wish I could have made myself last longer but it's always kind of hard with Santana, especially when it's spontaneous sex. I'm sure she also wishes I had held out a little more, but she shouldn't complain because this is her fault.

My grip on the counter gets so strong and my eyebrows pitch so tight together that if people were to see me they might think I was in pain. But I'm not, it's the complete opposite of pain.

My head falls back again and I can feel my stomach moving in waves like if it were the ocean because I can't really control my breathing.

When my stomach stops acting crazy, Santana slips her fingers out and grasps my thighs. She pulls herself closer to me and kisses the place between my boobs.

I straighten up a little and give her a lazy kiss on the head before meeting her dark brown eyes.

She smirks; a proud kind of smirk. "You have some big making up to do."

...

Since we left our apartment, Santana hasn't stopped smiling and staring at me. She also hasn't stopped complimenting me.

"Doesn't gold look amazing on her? I mean anything looks incredible on her but this..." Santana looks at me up and down. "You should probably think about buying nothing but gold dresses from now on, Britt."

I think my ears are pink right now.

"Brittany, you seriously do look amazing. If I weren't so good looking myself, I'd be completely jealous."

"Thanks, Jax," I answer. "I really like your tux."

Jax looks down at himself and smiles at me.

"What about me?" Adam asks.

"Both of you look super hot. You'll be the hottest couple here. Well, after San and me." I squeeze her hand tighter.

"Oh please, Britt. They don't even come close," she says.

Adam ignores her and thanks me. "You look really good too, Brittany. Definitely better thank Santana."

Santana rolls her eyes.

"I'd probably ask you out if I were still pretending to be straight. Santana is super lucky."

"I'm the lucky one," I answer and kiss Santana's cheek.

"Hey! Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Santana pushes past Adam and Jax and storms towards the cake people. "Did I say I wanted the cake in the kitchen? NO. I need it by the presents table." She snaps her fingers once and points at the table with one present so far; a neatly wrapped box from Jax and Adam.

"Yyyeah," Jax says with a funny expression on his face "Super lucky. Brittany, please promise me that I'll get to plan your next birthday party. I didn't get to do anything this time. Santana took over everything!"

I know I should be frowning or something because Jax seems upset but all I can do is smile because Santana is so sweet. She wanted to do all this for me. "You got to host the party in your apartment and cook the food." That sounded like a question.

He rolls his eyes like Santana does at least once a day. "I'm hardly hosting it. We just let you borrow our place. And I only got to cook some of the food. Santana ordered most of it."

"I'm... sorry?"

"Don't worry about it, Brittany," Adam tells me. "Jax can be just as controlling as Santana so only one of them was going to end up doing everything. It's like survival of the fittest."

"Like in the Hunger Games?" I ask.

Adam looks confused. "Like what?"

"Pft. Let's just make it clear that Santana is one of the stupid kids that gets killed as soon as the game starts and I'm Katniss," Jax says. "Even if those movies are so three years ago. And even if Katniss didn't pick the guy that looks like Adam. I mean, what was she thinking?."

A tall skinny guy dressed in all black comes up to us. I've never seen him before but he looks like a Man in Black, minus the suit and the glasses and the talking dog.

"Good evening."

"Hi. You're kinda early." I tell him. "The party doesn't start till another thirty minutes."

"I'm looking for Ms. Lopez."

"Sorry, but how did you get in?" Jax asks.

"The front door was open so I just-"

"Who's this?" Santana asks when she finally comes back from bossing people around.

"I'm Howard. I was hired by Ms. Lopez for tonight's event."

Santana looks at him from head to toe then pushes her eyebrows together. "Wait, you're the bouncer?"

"Yes."

"But you're like 100 pounds! You were suppose to be here for looks only! When has a 100 pound man intimidated anyone?! Oh my god, can anyone do anything right around here?" She stomps away towards the bathroom almost falling over her pretty black gown. "Jax, fix this! I want a huge, ripped, bald guy!" She slams the bathroom door.

"I'm really sorry about her," Adam apologizes to the skinny man. "She's just really stressed out."

"Yeah, you're not that... skinny." Jax says. He's a bad liar. "You are tall though. I'll just get you a big jacket so that it'll look like you have-" He and Adam look at each other. "I'm just gonna go get that jacket." He runs off to his room.

While Adam keeps apologizing to the skinny man and making up excuses for Santana's rudeness, I go look for her. "San... Can I come in?" I hear the door unlock and hurry inside.

I sit next to her on the edge of Jax's expensive claw foot tub. "You don't have to stress out so much, you know? Everything looks great."

She reaches for the bar of soap on the sink and holds it up for me too see. "I ordered soaps with the words "Hollywood Glam" on them. What do these say?"

"Fight Club... But I love that movie. And it still kinda relates to the Hollywood theme."

She throws the soap into the toilet, making some of the water splash out onto the seat. "I'm sorry, Britt. I really did try my best. I just didn't know I hired a bunch of incompetent people."

"San, everything I wanted is here. We got the awesome lights, the pretty clothes, the food, the cool Oscar statues. And I have you here. Everything else doesn't really matter."

"The bouncer sucks. He looks like a zombie."

"Don't worry about that; Jax and Adam are fixing it." I slip my hand in hers. "Will you come back outside with me and welcome my friends and any strangers that decide to join us?"

She nods. "Okay."

When we make it back outside, Quinn and two of my co-workers are already there. Santana let's go of my hand and surprises Quinn and everyone else by giving her a tight hug.

"I'm so glad you're here," Santana tells her. "Can we talk outside?"

Quinn still looks a little surprised but agrees. "Sure."

The two of them walk out through the front door and I stay behind with my friends. I'm glad Quinn is here. I'm happy Santana has another friend. But if I'm being completely honest, I felt a little sting somewhere inside my chest when Quinn was able to cheer her up by simply showing up.

….

_"Santana, do we really have to talk out here? It's freezing." Quinn asks as we stand in Jax and Adam's driveway._

_"You're a disgrace to all the people of Ohio, you know that? This is LA. It's not nearly as bad as the cold in Ohio." _

_Quinn rolls her eyes and stuffs her hands in her coat. "What did you want to talk about?" _

_"First off, were you able to drop off Brittany's gift at my place?" _

_"Yes. I wasn't going to keep it in my hotel room the whole night. I left it in the bathroom like you told me to." She digs around her coat pocket and brings out the key to my apartment that I lend her earlier when we went to pick up Brittany's gift. "Here."_

_I take the key. "Did Lord Tubbington give you any trouble?" _

_"If by trouble you mean a dirty look, then yes. A little." She watches me for a moment. "Is there something else you wanted to talk about? You look worried." _

_I take a quick glance over my shoulder to make sure no one is coming. "Not really. I just wanted to get out of there for a while. Nothing is really turning out how I planned and it's stressing the hell out of me."_

_"I thought everything looked pretty well organized."_

_"It's not; believe me. Did you take a look at that bouncer?"_

_"Oh, that's what that man is? He doesn't look like the ordinary door man"_

_I sigh. "This party is going to suck and on top of that I still have to tell Brittany I got fired."_

_There's a rustling behind some bushes nearby, followed by some movement. _

_"Is it an animal?" Quinn asks._

_"That is highly incorrect." Rachel emerges from the line of hedges in a sleek red dress. "I don't think there is a single organism in the whole animal kingdom that can match my perfect pitch." She walks up to us as she pulls out leafs from her hair. _

_"You haven't met my aunt's chihuahua," I say. "What the hell were you doing back there? Can't you make a normal entrance?"_

_"I believe I was been followed by some paparazzis, so I had to lose them. My driver dropped me off a few houses down." _

_"You have a driver?" Quinn asks._

_"Of course," she simply states._

_Quinn looks back at me and mouths an unimpressed "wow". _

_"I wouldn't want you two ladies to think I was eavesdropping-"_

_"Too late," Quinn and I say in unison. _

_Rachel gives us a despondent look before continuing. "You really lost your job, Santana?"_

_I groan. The last thing I needed was Big-Mouth-Rachel to find out. "Yes, but no one other than Quinn knows so don't you dare open your big mouth."_

_She tucks her lips in and nods. "My lips are sealed. But why were you fired? If you don't mind me asking."_

_"I do mind." I glance at Quinn. "Let's go back inside."_

….

_It's a few hours into the night and the party is turning out to be quite a success. Unlike almost everything else, the DJ doesn't completely suck and people seem to be enjoying themselves. Brittany is ten times more popular tonight than she usually is. I haven't gotten more than five minutes alone with her but ever so often, I notice how she looks around the room until she finds me and gives me a cute little smile._

_"Santana." Adam comes up to me as I mix myself and Quinn some drinks. "Hey, there's a guy at the door trying to get in, but he's not on the list."_

_"So? Brittany said anyone is allowed in. She probably forgot to write his name down."_

_"Well, you should go talk to the bouncer because he won't listen to any of us."_

_"Fine. Here." I hand him a drink. "Take this to Quinn, please." I make my way to the front door and sure enough I find Jax and a stranger trying to convince the bouncer to let him in. "What's going on?"_

_"Oh, Santana!" Jax pulls on my arm. "Please tell him to let him in. He won't listen to me."_

_I look at the nameless guy standing at the door. "Are you Brittany's friend?"_

_He nods. "And her neighbor. You're Santana, her roommate right?"_

_"Yeah, her girlfriend. You're Nick?"_

_"That's me. She's talked about me?" He asks with an eager grin. _

_"Mentioned... once or twice." _

_"Oh. Well, can I come in? I brought her a present." He holds up a small gift bag. "I'd like to give it to her before the night ends."_

_"Yeah." I allow space for him to pass. "Good luck finding her."_

_"Thanks!" _

_Once he's gone, I look up at the tree of a man I hired. "Did I not tell you to let everyone in?"_

_"No." He answers honestly._

_"Oh. Well... do so. Your only job is to stand here; that shouldn't be too hard." _

_"Santana, you're a total bitch," Jax says. He pulls me closer to him and whispers, "I kinda like it."_

_I smirk and look around for Brittany. When I spot her, she's already talking to Nick. "Hey, why didn't you tell me Brittany got our neighbor's number?"_

_"I didn't think it was a big deal since she didn't ask for it and didn't give him hers," Jax replies. "He did seem flirty though. He might have a thing for her." _

_"No, you think?" I ask, sarcastically. _

_"Well, if she doesn't go for it, I will. He's a complete ten."_

_I glare at him and snarl, "Shut up," before walking off._

…

"Hey, beautiful." Santana walks out the bathroom as I reach it.

"Oh, Hi!" I smile. I haven't gotten to hang out with her much. I kinda wish everyone had to leave soon so that it could just be me and her. "I'm glad you're done in there cause I had like ten gazillion cups of gin and I really need to pee."

She laughs and gives me a short peck on the lips. "Hey. Who gave you that?" She points at my shiny new necklace. "It looks expensive- wait! Let me guess. Rachel."

I shake my head. I'm worried about what her reaction will be to my answer. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to wear it. "Nick."

"Oh." She nods once. "It's nice."

"Is it okay if I wear it?"

"Yeah. Of course. He's your friend."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." She looks down at it again then up at me. "He knows about me, right?"

"Of course. When I introduced myself to him I said, 'Hi, I'm Brittany. I live downstairs with my girlfriend, Santana.'"

"Did he understand that I'm your girlfriend as in we're in a relationship or did he think I'm your friend that's a girl?"

"He-" I frown and think about it. "I don't know." I thought it would be obvious to anyone what I meant when I say Santana is my girlfriend.

"Because I just met him and he knew who I was but didn't hide the fact that he has a crush on you. I think he thinks we're just friends."

"I didn't realize people can get confused when I say that. I thought he understood I was with you and was just being really nice." I reach back behind my neck and unclip the necklace. "I'll give this back as soon as I pee."

"No, Britt. Keep it. It's a nice gift."

"I shouldn't wear jewelry that's not from you or friends who don't have crushes on me."

She smiles at me with something between being shy and proud. "I'm going to go check on everyone. Let's dance after you're done here?"

"Yes!"

She giggles and I poke one of her dimples before she runs off in her super high heels.

"Briiiiiiiitt-any!" Rachel walks down the hall, towards me, doing some weird dance.

"Leave her alone dwarf," Santana says over her shoulder when she passes her by.

"Happy, Happy, Happy... Brithday!" She clasps my shoulder and rests her weight on me.

"Thanks, Rachel." I wipe off a few chocolate cake crumbs from her cheek. "Don't let Santana catch you eating the cake so early."

"I didn't eat your cake! Just a few brownies from a really nice friend of yours. He said he went to school with us."

"Oh, that was Brett. You shouldn't eat anything he gives you though."

"They were delicious brownies, Brittany. I think I might hire him for my next event. He can make desserts, you know?"

"Yeah... I really need to pee. Can we talk after?"

"Oh! What an insane chain of events must have occurred for us to both unite at this very moment."

"What?"

"I too have to evacuate a specific bodily fluid." She winks one eye, then the other.

"Are your eyes okay? They're doing funny stuff."

"I'll let you know I have 20/20 vision Brittany! Come on! We can pee together." She takes my hand and pulls me inside the bathroom.

"I don't think we'll both fit on the toilet at the same- Oh you're going first."

"This toilet seat is quite comfortable. I might have to have my assistant look into buying one."

I nod. I don't really know what to say to that.

"Hey, that's a pretty necklace. Can I see it?"

I hand it over to her and she holds it far away from her. "I can't see things when they're too close," she explains.

I think about her 20/20 vision comment earlier and how it doesn't make sense. "Are you almost done?"

"Oh! I'm sorry." She gets up and pulls her underwear back on. "Looks like I didn't have to pee after all!" She says as she looks inside the toilet and lets out a weird bird sounding laugh. "I'll flush it anyway." She pushes down the lever and glares at it when my necklace gets caught on it. "Hey!" She yanks on it and frees it but also drops it into the toilet.

We both gasp.

"Oh my god!" She looks at me with huge wide eyes. "Brittany. I'm so sorry. I can buy you another one! We can go right now if you want!"

"It was a gift! I can't replace it!" I look inside the toilet and feel my lips pull down at the corners. The necklace isn't floating like I had hoped; it's deep down under the water. "We're going to need a coat hanger."

"I can get one. I'll call my assistant right now! She's in New York but I can get her to come. No problem!"

….

_"Hey! Santana!" I look over Quinn's shoulder and find Brittany's friend, Angie, waving at me._

_"Ugh. I need to go play nice," I tell Quinn. "I'll be back."_

_"Good luck," Quinn encourages._

_"Hey! How are you?" Angie asks, a little too overly excited for my taste._

_"Hey. I'm good. How are you?"_

_"I'm awesome. This is a kick ass party. And you look really nice." She leans back to look at me._

_"Oh." Is she now hitting on me too? "Thanks. You too." She actually does look nice. She looks nothing like the day when I first met her. Maybe it has to do with the fact that she's wearing women's clothes; a tight fitted dress to be exact._

_"Don't look so surprised. You do look very pretty. And let me just make it clear that I'm not hitting on you. I know you think I'm into girls."_

_"What? I... no..."_

_She laughs. "It's okay. Brittany told me."_

_I'm going to kill that girl._

_"But it's cool. I don't mind if people think that about me. I like guys though, so don't worry about me trying to put the moves on Brittany. She told me about that too."_

_Jesus. "I'm- so sorry. I didn't- I mean I did but-"_

_"Seriously, you don't have to worry about it. It's fine. Brittany is super beautiful. If I were you, I'd be pretty suspicious of other people."_

_I chuckle nervously. "Either way, I'm sorry."_

_She shakes her head with a smile. "I'm glad she invited me and the others from our production. We really miss her. We were all bummed out when she decided not to join us for our next project."_

_"What project?"_

_"Our next film. Didn't she tell you? I offered her to stay with us a little longer- Oh, crap. Did I just say something I shouldn't have?"_

_"Oh, wait! I remember now. Yeah... that other movie... No, yeah she told me." I nod in an attempt to convince her. Letting people know my girlfriend keeps things from me would be a huge hit to my ego. "Will you excuse me for a minute?"_

_"Of course."_

….

"Good thing your friends had a closet full of coat hangers, huh? Who would have known."

I claw the necklace upwards with the coat hanger's hook for the fifth time but it slips off again. "Dammit!"

"You're really lucky, Brittany. This party is almost as good as the ones I usually go to with my broadway friends."

She seems sad laying there in the empty tub. She's not even talking super smart like she always does. "I'm sorry. Do you miss them? Your friends?"

She shrugs. "I just don't think Finn would ever organize anything like this for me. I mean, he doesn't get paid very much, so that'd be part of the problem, but Santana doesn't even have a job and she managed to make this happen for you."

I give up on the necklace for a while and look up at Rachel. "Santana has a job. She works at a music company."

"Brittany, she got fired, remember?"

"What?"

"Wait... What?" She hurries up onto her feet. "We've been here a long time. I think I'm going to go call the firemen. I'm sure they'll be able to get your necklace out."

"Rachel, wait. What do you mean Santana got fired?"

"I- She didn't. I was only joking you... silly... Birthday Girl!" She pokes my nose and turns to leave, but I grab her arm.

"I won't tell her it was you who told me. I promise. Just tell me why she got fired."

She sighs. "I don't know why. I just heard her talking to Quinn about it."

"Quinn knows?"

There's a knock on the door.

"It's busy!" Rachel shouts.

"Berry? Have you seen Brittany?"

I turn the doorknob and open the door.

"Brittany! Why-" She looks at Rachel. "Scram!"

Rachel runs out the bathroom.

"Brittany, you turned down a job?"

"You got fired from yours?"

Her face relaxes and her lips part a little. "What? I didn't- Who told you that?"

"OH MY GOD! HIS LIPS LOOK LIKE SANTANA'S!" We hear Rachel dramatically scream from a distance.

Santana and I run down the hall and push through the crowd of people in the living-room. "Oh my god..." Rachel was right. Jax's lips do look like Santana's but like an exaggerated version of them. Like the ones in those portrait drawings people get at fairs.

"What the hell happened?!" Santana kneels next to him and takes his hand. "He's burning up!"

"Move!" Adam storms through the front door and shoves everyone out of the way. "Give them space!" He's talking about the paramedics following him. They look just like the ones from Grey's Anatomy.

"Adam, what happened?!" I've never seen Santana panic this much. Not even when she crashed her car during Junior year.

Adam doesn't answer her though. He stands nearby and watches as the paramedics pull Jax onto one of those bed with wheels. They hurry past me and Jax looks up at me as they do. His eyes have turned almost tomato red and his face looks like he got stung by mosquitos.

Santana stands up to follow Adam out the door, but Quinn grabs her hand. "Santana, you shouldn't go. Everyone is still here."

"I need to." She slips her hand out from Quinn's grip and hurries towards the door.

"Santana." It's me who grabs her hand this time. She stops to look at me. I think she thinks I'm also going to tell her not to leave, but I don't. "I want to go too."

Her eyes are watery and she looks super worried, but she gives me a tiny smile and pulls me with her towards the exit.

"Keep everyone entertained, Rachel!" I yell out as we leave.

"I'm on it!" She says, and I can faintly hear her when she introduces her improvised version of Barbra Streisand's _Papa,_ _Can You Hear Me._

….

We had to drive my car to the hospital because the paramedics told us only Adam was allowed in the ambulance. I was a little disappointed. But now that we've been in the waiting room for more than an hour and haven't even seen Adam, I'm starting to get really, really worried. Santana has been complaining and asking the nurse at the front desk about Jax over and over but the nurse said she couldn't say anything if Santana wasn't family.

I was almost convinced that a gang of mosquitos had attacked Jax, but Santana said she thinks he might have had an allergic reaction because he's allergic to a lot of things.

"I think there are more things he's allergic to than things he isn't allergic to. I mean, he's allergic to pollen! Who the hell is allergic to pollen?"

"I didn't know people could be allergic to countries."

"No, not Poland, Britt. Pollen. It's some stupid fairy dust that flowers produce. Which makes it just about the gayest allergy ever. Actually, if any allergy is right for him is that one."

"Well, I'm allergic to the sun. That's kinda silly too."

"Britt, you're not allergic to the sun. You just burn easily because you're so damn light skinned."

I think about that for a minute. She's right. My skin is super pale. Her's is so nice and tanned. "I wish my skin was darker like yours. I don't really like mine."

That cute crease that I love so much forms in her brow. "Don't say that. Your skin is beautiful. It's part of the reason why I think you're so sexy."

I smirk. "Are you saying you like white girls?"

Her cheeks flush a little and the crease on her forehead gets deeper. "No. I don't like any other girls. Just you."

I want to make her blush more, but I don't think it's the right time to be silly, so I just kiss her shoulder instead.

"Britt, I don't know if we should be talking about this right now, but I really want to know why you didn't tell me that Angie had offered you another job."

"Please don't get angry." I plead. "I didn't tell you because I knew you'd encourage me to do it even if deep down you didn't want me to."

"What? Why would you think that? I want you to do whatever makes you happy."

"Yeah, but even if I was happy, you wouldn't be, so I wouldn't be either."

She closes her eyes and shakes her head. "You're confusing me."

"San, I know you were really sad because I wasn't around that much anymore. I could tell when I came home and saw you all alone with Lord Tubbington. You had to eat dinner alone. You had to watch TV alone. You wouldn't even sleep in our bed without me, you said it yourself."

"Brittany, it's fine. I can handle it."

I don't want to tell her she can't handle something, but we both know she can't handle this. Not right now. "We just got back together and I don't want us to have to spend too much time apart. I'm sure I can work with Angie some other time."

"I don't want you to put your dreams on hold because of my needs..." Her mouth gapes. "Oh my god. I'm needy. I'm the needy, clingy, annoying girlfriend."

I laugh a little. "You're not clingy. You just got me back and want to spend time with me. I want to spend time with you too... Which will be easy now that you don't have a job."

Santana gives me a guilty, hopeful smile like a child would when asking for something.

"What happened?" I ask.

"I can just tell you later. We should focus on Jax."

"Santana."

"Ugh, Britt. Don't say my name like that."

"Just tell me what happened."

"Look, I wasn't going to let that douchebag get away with his stupid remark, okay? I gave him a piece of my mind. I just... forgot to do it in private."

"So you lied to me. You said you had listened to me and had let it go."

"I'm sorry, Britt. But you know I can't let people get away with stuff like that. I was going to tell you, I swear. I was just waiting for your birthday to pass so that you wouldn't worry about it. Plus, you didn't tell me about your job offer, so we're even."

"But this shouldn't be about being even. I hid something from you and you lied to me. We did it to protect one another, but we shouldn't use that as an excuse. We should always be honest with each other."

"Yeah, I know..."

"Here, give me your hands." When she does, I hold them between us. "I, Brittany S. Pierce, swear to never ever lie or hide anything from Santana Lopez even if it's to spare her feelings. Now, you go."

Santana looks around and waits for a group of nurses to pass by. "I, Santana Lopez, swear to never lie-"

"Never ever lie," I correct.

She rolls her eyes and laughs. "I swear to never ever lie or hide anything from Brittany S. Pierce even if it's to spare her feelings."

"Now, kiss me." I point at my lips. "We have to seal it with a kiss."

I tug at her hands and she gives me a pouty, smiling kiss.

"Can you guys ever keep your hands and mouths off each other?" Adam asks. "Your friend might have been dead right now and you're here making out."

Santana jumps to her feet. "How is he?"

"He's going to be fine. Turns out he's also allergic to peanuts."

"Peanuts?! Are you serious? That's the second gayest allergy. He's literally allergic to nuts."

"Well, not all nuts." Adam smiles.

"Ew, Adam." Santana makes a disgusted face. "No."

"Anyway, we're going to spend the night here. They're not allowing in any other visitors right now, so you guys can go back to the party."

Santana turns back and looks at me. "What do you think?"

"I'm tired. I kinda just want to go home."

"Okay." She nods. "I'll call Quinn and tell her to show everyone out."

"No. I'll text Rachel." I pull out my phone and start typing.

"Hey, there's one more thing," Adam says. "I know we kind of ruined Brittany's party, so I hate to ask you guys for a favor right now, but I don't know by what time we'll be out of here tomorrow and my parent's have this thing to go to in the morning-"

"Oh, no, no, no." Santana shakes her head. "NO. We are not babysitting."

"Please, Santana! My parents will drop her off at your place. It'll only be for a few hours."

"San, that'd be so much fun!" I jump to my feet. "Of course we'll babysit!"

Adam smiles. "Really?"

"Brittany, no!"

"Shh..." I cover her mouth with my hand. "Yeah, totally!"

"Thanks so much, Brittany. I owe you one. I gotta get back to Jax, but I'll pick Valerie up tomorrow as early as I can."

….

_I turn around and motion for Brittany to unzip my dress. "Brittany, I can't believe you agreed to babysit. I hope you don't expect me to help you change diapers." My dress falls to the floor and I turn back around to help Brittany with hers. _

_"I was hoping you'd take care of that, but it's okay if you don't want to. You can just feed her and burp her. Maybe you can sing to her if she cries."_

_"No, I won't be doing any of those things. You're on your own, Supernanny." _

_She follows me to the bathroom. Both of us in our underwear. "But you love to sing."_

_"Not to babies." I stop at the bathroom door, remembering something. "I know we just made a pact about not hiding stuff from each other, but surprises don't count, right?"_

_She shakes her head and after a few seconds her face lights up in realization. "Is there a surprise for me?" _

_I open the door an inch and peek inside. The puppy lays on his dog bed, completely passed out. I turn back to Brittany and catch her trying to peek over my head. "Yes."_

_"What is it? Why is it in the bathroom? Can I see it?"_

_I chuckle at her childlike excitement then open the door. She hurries past me. _

_"What do you think? Do you like it?"_

_Brittany drops to her knees and stares at the tiny Spaniel. "It's perfect, San." She strokes it with one hand._

_"And it's not just any Spaniel. It's a Brittany Spaniel."_

_She looks up at me, confused but happy._

_"That's the actual name of his breed." I laugh. "I thought he was perfect for you because they're suppose to be really playful and active. Just like you."_

_"That's so cool. He was like, made for me." She gently picks him up and cradles him against her chest. The puppy opens his eyes into slits and yawns. "He's so cute," Brittany cooes with a scrunched up nose._

_I kneel down next to her and whisper, "Happy Birthday," before kissing her._

_"Thank you." She smiles against my lips. "Best birthday gift ever."_


	4. Possibilities

"She's so pretty." Brittany lays on the right side of the bed, both hands brought together under her cheek as she watches Valerie sleep between us. "She looks like a pretty doll. I bet dolls in Brazil look like her."

I readjust the laptop on my lap and click on the next page of job listings. "Why Brazil?"

"Cause her skin is kind of like yours, so she has to be from an exotic place right? Except her hair is light colored and I think her eyes are turning green."

"Well, Adam said her mom was from South America, so I guess she's exotic."

"Do you think that if we were able to have a baby she or he would look like her?" She asks.

I click on an interesting job post. "I don't know." And then I click out of the job post because every goddamn company wants at least one or more years of experience.

"San."

I look over at Brittany who's staring at me. "What do you think it would look like?" She asks.

"What?"

"Our baby. If we could have a baby, what do you think it would look like?"

"Oh. I don't know." I glance at Valerie. "Maybe she'd look like her, but like a million times cuter. If I could choose, I'd want it to be a copy of you."

"That'd be creepy."

"I don't mean a _copy, copy_. Just... I'd want it to look more like you than me 'cause you're beautiful and who wouldn't want a beautiful baby."

Brittany gives a funny smile. "You're beautiful too though."

"Well, obviously. But still." I go back to scrolling down the list.

It's quiet for a few minutes then Brittany asks, "Have you found anything?"

"No. I've been looking since the day they fired me and have only been able to apply to three places. It's stressing me out already. I sure as hell don't want to work at a coffee shop, but I might have to."

"Why don't you take a break?"

"I guess." I sigh and close the laptop, placing it on the nightstand. "I'll look again before we go to bed."

"I meant why don't you take a break from working."

My brow furrows. "Like not work at all?"

She nods. "Yeah, just for a while. I have money saved." She props herself up on her forearm. "I can take care of us."

"No way, Britt. I'd die of boredom here. And I'd never let you pay all the bills."

"It'd only be for a little while, just so that you can relax."

I shake my head. "It's sweet that you're offering, but I seriously wouldn't be able to stay here all day. I'm not made to be a housewife."

"Housewifes do a lot though. They cook, clean, run errands, and take care of the kids. We don't have kids, but you can take care of our new puppy and Lord Tubbington."

I lift an eyebrow, unimpressed. "I'm not going to stay home and clean dog and cat piss all day. I rather go serve stupid coffees and put up with rich condescending girls." I cross my arms. "You're crazy if you think I'd stay here and wait for you to come home all day so that I could serve you dinner."

Her eyes widened comically and she chuckles. "I never said I wanted that. I just wanted to offer you some time off." She carefully climbs over Valerie's still body and lays on top of me. "Maybe you can write some songs."

"That could be fun." I run my hands down to her lower back. "I haven't done that in a while, but it's still a no."

She gently bites down on my lower lip and tugs on it with a smile.

I pull it back. "Let's not start something we can't finish."

"We can finish it. Plus, I have making up to do, remember?" She smirks.

"Brittany..." I glance to my left. "There's a baby right next to us."

"She's sleeping. We can just scoot her over and I promise not to make you scream too much."

I shake my head. "You're the worst babysitter ever." My phone starts vibrating and I pick it up off the nightstand. "Oh, it's Quinn. I totally forgot she was still in town."

"Me too," Brittany says and lays her head down on my chest.

"Hey, Quinn. Sorry about ditching you last night."

"Yeah, you should be sorry. You left me in a party which was taken over by Rachel. Do you know how awful that was? She almost _performed _a whole Barbra album."

I laugh. "I'm sorry. How about I take you to lunch tomorrow and make it up to you?"

Brittany's head snaps up and she locks eyes with me. My brow contracts. 'What?' I mouth.

"I'd gladly accept that offer, but I'm already at the aiport."

"You're leaving so soon?"

Brittany lays her head back down.

"Yeah. I have work tomorrow, and I have a story due that needs to be ran over one last time to make sure it's ready to be published."

"Raincheck then?"

"Sure."

"Where's Mini Barbra? Is she still in LA?"

"No. She flew back to New York last night. She had a show or something. I don't know."

"Of course. Midnight flight. She doesn't do anything less than dramatic."

"That's Rachel. Listen, I'm about to board, but I wanted to call and ask if your friend, Jax? Is doing okay."

"Oh yeah. He's fine. He had an allergic reaction to some of the food, but he'll be back home today."

"Glad to hear it. What about you and Brittany? Did you tell her yet? About your job?"

"Yeah, that's all sorted out. Thanks, Quinn."

"No problem. I'll gladly listen to your life drama any day."

I chuckle. "Thank you. I'll keep that in mind."

Brittany looks up at me again.

"Anyway, I gotta go. I'll talk to you soon?" She asks.

"Yeah. Have a good flight."

"Thanks, bye."

"She's going home," I say to Britany, and I set my phone back down. "She said Rachel left last night."

"Oh. Why did she call?"

"Just to check on Jax."

"That's nice of her."

There's a leaking noise on the floorboards near our bed and I turn to see "Jean" taking a nice long piss on my polished hardwood floor. Yes, that's the name Brittany chose for her dog. I am aware about the fact that it's a girl's name but she was determined to give it Britney Spear's middle name and argued that names don't have boundaries when it comes to genders.

I am as confused as you.

"Jean! No!" I shout.

Brittany jumps to her feet and grabs the dog off the floor. "No, Jean. You need to pee on your potty mat, remember?" She explains calmly as she runs off with the dog.

"Brittany! It's leaving pee all over the place!"

Valerie let's out a small cry.

"Oh shit," I whisper. "Shh... shh..." I pat her stomach. That's what you do right? "Shh... Don't wake up please." Pat. Pat. "Go back to sleep."

She makes one of her signature angry baby faces and without even bothering to open her eyes begins to cry. Is she still sleeping? Can babies cry while they sleep?

"Uh... Brittany?" I hover my hand over her. The pats aren't working. "Shh... It's okay, Val. Brittany, a little help?"

"Pick her up!" She yells from the living room. "Carry her!"

"Uhhhh..." I slip my hands under her armpits and lift her off the bed. My knees inch back on the bed towards the edge and when my bare feet land on the floor, they're welcomed by a fresh puddle of puppy piss. "I stepped on it." I say to myself. "I stepped on pee... Brittany!" I turn towards the door, careful not to slip on the wet mess and leave behind a trail of footprints as I go find Brittany. "Brittany, please take her. I don't know how to make her stop crying." I'm still holding Valerie at arm's length as if she's the one covered in dog pee.

"Try actually holding her." Brittany says as she changes the dog's mat.

"Please just take her! My feet are covered in your stupid dog's piss."

"You stepped in his peepee?" She washes her hands in the kitchen sink then takes Valerie from me and gently rocks her as if she's done it a million times before.

"Yes! And I'm not cleaning it up." I warn as I leave to the bathroom. "Your dog. His pee. Your mess."

After I finish taking a quick shower and scrubbing my feet a few hundred times, I find Brittany walking around the living-room with Valerie resting her head on Brittany's shoulder.

"I just finished feeding her," she informs. "Can you burp her so I can mop?"

"I can mop," I say as I pull my hair up into a bun.

"You said it was my mess."

"I know, but I can do it this time."

"You just don't want to hold her."

"Where's the mop?" I ask, avoiding her comment. "This place is starting to reek."

"It makes me sad that you don't want to spend time with her." She walks up to me. "Will you please just hold her this one time? You're suppose to be her aunt."

I groan. It's not that I don't like the kid. I'm just not interested in taking care or even holding babies. These activities simply don't amuse me. But Brittany is asking this from me and I can't really say no, can I?

"How do I burp her?"

Brittany's face lights up. "Just hold her like I'm holding her and give her little pats on her back." She lays Valerie on my chest. "You have to pat her." She takes my hand and places it on Valerie's back. "Okay, I'm gonna go clean."

She takes off with the mop in hand and leaves me with a surprisingly quiet Valerie. I walk around our apartment and continue patting her back. "Consider this bonding time, okay? But don't get too used to it." I feel a tug on the leg of my jeans and find Jean biting my left cuff ferociously. "Hey!" I try shaking him off. "Stop!"

"San, I'm going to take a shower." Brittany says as she finishes mopping my footprints from earlier. "Is that okay?"

"No, it's not okay. What if she starts crying again?" I push Jean away from me with my foot and he runs as best as he can towards the couch where he jumps on a sleeping Lord Tubbington.

"She won't, she just ate." She rounds me to get a look at her. "She'll probably fall asleep after she burps." She kisses my cheek. "I won't take long."

Brittany leaves, again, and I walk into the kitchen to get a glass of water. "How do people even do this?" I ask myself as I try to balance Valerie and serve myself some tap water because it's the easiest to get to. "Crazy, crazy people... Morons." As I wait for my cup to fill with water, Valerie let's out a decent little burp. "Good job," I say, patting her back once before shutting off the tap.

My congratulatory pat encourages to burp again and the gooey stuff she just threw up feels warm against my shirt as it begins to roll down my shoulder. "Seriously?!" I grab a nearby kitchen towel and try cleaning myself off as best as I can. "First dog piss and now this?"

There's a knock at the door. I groan in annoyance and on my way to open it, I push Jean off the couch because he's already made a habit of annoying Lord Tubbington by attacking his swooshing tail.

I swing the door open and find the last person I want to see right now. Or any day.

"Hi!" Nick chirps.

"I'm busy right now."

"That's okay. I was actually just looking for Brittany. Is she around?" He takes a look inside our apartment.

"She's busy too," I answer in an irritated tone.

"Oh." He looks back down at me and then at Valerie.

I smile. A fun little idea just popped into my head. "Yeah. She's taking a nap right now. This little one hasn't been letting us sleep very much." I nod towards Valerie.

"She never mentioned you had a daughter. That's nice of her to help you take care of your baby."

"Well, it's kind of her job, you know? I can't take care of our daughter all by myself."

His brow twitches in confusion. "Whose daughter?" He chuckles and scratches the back of his neck. "I'm a little lost now."

"Our daughter. As in mine's and Brittany's. I'm sure she told you I'm her girlfriend, but we're actually a little more serious than that. I mean, we're parents." I smile. "She knows I don't like her announcing our baby to the entire world because well, you know how judgmental people can be, but you seem like a nice guy, and you're her friend so I don't see why you shouldn't know about our little bundle of love!" I say, trying to sound like one of those overly enthusiastic parents, which isn't difficult to do because I just have to imitate Jax. "Did you want to leave Brittany a message?"

"Uh..." He blinks a few times. "No... No, that's alright. Um... I'll just... I'm gonna go."

"Okay!"

"Yeah. Okay. Bye."

I happily wave goodbye and shut the door. "That was some good acting, Val." I laugh.

"What's so funny?" Brittany asks as she walks in wearing nothing but undies and a t-shirt that's too short to fully cover her bottom half.

"Brittany!" I hover my hand over Valerie's eyes.

"San, she's a baby." She chuckles "What were you laughing at?"

"Oh, nothing. Nick came by."

"What did he want?"

"To see you, obviously." I sit down on our loveseat then carefully stretch across it with Valerie resting on my chest. "I don't think he'll be pursuing you any longer though." I wink at her.

She tilts her head to the side and narrows her eyes. "What did you do?"

"Don't look at me like that. It was all Val. She did all the work. I just did the talking."

"Okaaay. What did you say?" She spreads my legs enough to lay in between them and rests her head on my thigh. "Were you mean to him?"

"Of course not!" I say, sounding offended. "I just laid some alternate universe story on him."

"What do you mean?"

"I told him we're Valerie's parents" I laugh again.

She twists to look up at me. "You told him we're her moms?"

I continue to laugh. "Yeah. And he totally bought it. What an idiot."

"Well, is it really that hard to believe?" She asks, laying back down. "It wouldn't be super crazy if it were true, would it?"

"Uh, kind of! He's such a dumbass," I say, my laughter dying down. I try to get a look at Brittany but find a sleeping Valerie instead. "I mean," I start in a whisper. "Who's going to believe we have a kid?"

"Why wouldn't people believe it? Adam and Jax do."

"Yeah, but they're an exception. They're crazy. Girls as hot and young as us wouldn't have babies."

"I guess."

I notice the disappointment in her voice and replay what I just said in my head. I didn't say anything mean, did I? "Britt. Did I say something?"

She shakes her head. "No."

"Are you sure? Cause it sounds like I did."

"It's nothing you haven't said before. I should already be used to the idea of you not wanting to have kids."

"I never said I didn't want to have kids. Did you not believe me when I told you I wanted to have a baby with you?"

"I did."

"Then what is this about? Is it about the timing? Are you upset about me not wanting to have kids right now?"

She remains silent.

I begin to sit up. "I'm gonna go put Valerie down and then we're going to talk about this."

Once I make sure Valerie won't roll off our bed, I change into a clean shirt and sit back down with Brittany. She doesn't lay on me this time though, she sits on the other side of the couch with her legs pulled into her chest.

"I really want us to be clear about where we both stand on this because I know it's important to you and I don't want you to end up holding a grudge against me."

"I would never do that," she says in a soft tone.

"You say that now but this is obviously something you really want. And I don't. Not right now. I told you that."

"Yeah, I know," she responds as she looks down at her thin hands. "I understand that and it's fine."

"But?"

She brings her eyes back up to look at me. "But nothing."

"Brittany. I know there's something else. You look sad, so there has to be something else. We agreed to always tell each other the truth remember?"

She sighs. "It's just that having Valerie around kinda makes me wish we had a baby of our own."

"And we will. Just not-"

"Not now. Yeah, I know."

I frown. "Britt, this could not be a worse time to have a baby. Even if I was ready for it, we as a couple aren't. We just got back together a few months ago, I just got fired, we live in a tiny apartment, I have almost no savings-"

"But I do. I have money saved, remember?"

"Yeah." I nod. "I know, but that money won't last forever. You would have to take time off work and I don't even have a job right now. I still want to get my career going, and I wouldn't be able to do that with a baby. It's just not the right time, Britt." I give her a sympathetic smile. "But just because now isn't the right time doesn't mean there won't be a right time in a few years. We just have to be patient. We'll know when the moment comes."

"Yeah." The sadness in her eyes hasn't left. "I guess we can practice being moms with Valerie in the meantime."

I nod. "Definitely. I'm not as bad as I thought, you know? I got her to go to sleep, burp, and throw up."

Brittany scowls. "She threw up?"

"All over my shoulder."

Lord Tubbington let's out a squeal and we turn to watch as he tackles down Jean with the force of a linebacker.

"Lord Tubbington, no!" Brittany claps her hands, but the cat bites down on Jean's neck, making him yelp. "Stop it!" She tries lifting Lord Tubbington off Jean, but he won't set his neck free. "Lord T, let go! Santana, do something!"

"Britt, that dog has been annoying the hell out of him all day."

"Santana!"

"Ugh." I grip the back of Lord Tubbington's neck and pull him back a bit. "Let go, Tubs." I tug again. "Let go," I say firmly, and he slowly begins to untighten his teeth and back away.

"Why does he listen to you more than he does to me?" Brittany asks with a pout. "He hated you before."

"Hey! He didn't hate me." I pick up the cat and set him down on his favorite side of the couch. "He just disliked me a little. There's a big difference."

* * *

_3 months later_

Brittany stirs next to me. "San," she mumbles with closed eyes.

"Did I wake you?" I whisper and stop typing.

"What time is it?"

"A little past midnight."

She groans in disapproval. "Sleep. You can finish tomorrow."

"I really want to finish this resume today." I close my laptop. "I'm gonna finish it in the living-room."

Her hand slides over my arm. "No." She opens her eyes a little. "Just lay down and sleep. Please."

I smile. "Okay."

* * *

_2 weeks later_

"I'm here!" Brittany drops her duffle bag at the front door and is greeted by a joyful Jean. "Hey, Jean!" She ruffles his ears. "No! No jumping!" The dog sets all four legs back on the floor and follows Brittany to the kitchen. He's gotten so big so fast. "Sorry I'm late." She greets Adam and Jax then pecks my lips. "Wow, it smells really delicious. What did you make this time, San?"

"I made steaks so hurry up and shower cause we're all dying of hunger."

Yes. It's true. I did end up turning into a housewife with a dog and a cat as children but not because I chose to stay home. Getting a job in the music industry with less than a year of experience isn't exactly easy. And coffee shop owners seem to want customer service experience more than college degrees.

"Okay. I won't be long."

"Wait!" Jax calls out. "I can't wait any longer to tell you guys the big news." He smiles at Adam and Brittany turns to smile at me. She's already excited and happy for them without even knowing what this is all about.

"Okay, so we came over 'cause we wanted to share with you guys something huge."

"Would you just spit it out!" I say.

"We bought my restaurant! Well, the restaurant where I work. Well, it kinda is my restaurant now."

"What?! You have your own restaurant now? That' so cool!" Brittany says.

Jean barks at her enthusiasm.

"Don't look too excited, Santana." Adam tells me. "You might break your stone face."

I roll my eyes. "I'm excited, but I'm also surprised. How did you guys manage to buy it?"

"We're doing payments obviously. But there's something else. And this might make you crack a smile." He exchanges a grin with Jax. "We want to offer you a job."

I quirk an eyebrow. "What kind of job?"

"Well," Jax starts. "We need someone to help me manage the restaurant; make schedules, keep track of money and inventory, do some marketing. I'm still going to stay on as head chef, so I can't do it all by myself and Adam has his business to keep track off, so we thought maybe you'd want to do it. What do you think?"

I glance at Brittany and she shrugs with a smile.

"I don't know. I don't have any experience with any of that,:" I say.

"But you do like to give out orders," Jax reminds me. "And you're super smart, Santana. You'll pick up on these stuff in no time. It can be temporary while you get back to working in music."

I think about it.

I don't think mixing work and friends is a good idea but It doesn't look like I have a better option right now.

"Yeah. Okay. I'll do it."

…..

Later that night, as we lay naked in bed after some 'congratulatory sex' as Brittany called it, she says something that surprises me.

"You'll get there too, you know?" She says as she cuddles at my side and plays with my fingers.

"What?"

"I know you're sad and maybe a little jealous at Adam and Jax right now because they're getting everything they want, but you'll be getting everything you want too. Some people just have to wait longer. I've known you for a really long time and there's one thing you've always made really clear." She looks up at me. "You always get what you want."

"That was then. Everything is really tough to get now compared to the things I wanted a few years ago."

"Maybe. But you're a lot tougher too." She leans upwards and kisses me. "We're together. That seemed impossible not too long ago, didn't it?

I nod.

"Yet here we are. You have me. Anything is possible, San."


End file.
